Meet Our Experts

Lorie has been the president of The Trust since 1990. She began her career at The Trust in 1977 as a grantmaker with responsibility for education, housing, government and urban affairs, and neighborhood revitalization. She was named executive vice president in 1987, when she assumed responsibility for strategic planning, personnel and budget management, and oversight of all departments.

Lorie received her B.A. from Colgate University, where she served for nine years as a trustee and chairman of the budget committee, and her M.A. from The New School, where she also served as a trustee. She is a member of the board of Independent Sector and co-chairs its Panel on the Nonprofit Sector. Lorie is a former board chairman of the Council on Foundations and BoardSource, and vice chairman of The Foundation Center. She also is a director of two for-profit companies: Alliance Bernstein Capital Management and AXA Financial.

Joyce joined The Trust in 1978, and now administers a wide range of grant programs and special projects. Before joining The Trust, she held administrative and planning positions in health, mental health, and substance abuse agencies. She was the founding chair of the New York Academy of Medicine's School Health Programs Advisory Committee, serves on the board of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, and is a visiting lecturer at New York Medical College's School of Public Health. In 1989, Joyce received the Council on Foundations' Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking for her leadership in shaping the local and national philanthropic response to the AIDS epidemic. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, holds a masters degree in Public Administration from Indiana University, and is a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine.

Mary works with The Trust's Investment Committee to implement strategies for the approximately $1 billion held in The Trust's nonprofit corporate affiliate and monitors an equivalent amount of assets held in trust at 12 New York City banks. Before joining The Trust in 2001, she spent 12 years as investment manager for the family that owns Continental Grain Company. Prior to that she worked as an investment analyst at C.J. Lawrence Management and Brown Brothers Harriman and wrote about investments for Fortune for several years. Mary holds a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Columbia University.

Alan Holzer joined The Trust in 2008 as chief financial officer. Prior to The Trust, he was controller of Partnership Accounting at the law firm Dewey Ballantine LLP. He also served as corporate controller of the New York Stock Exchange for 16 years. A native New Yorker, he holds a B.A. from Queens College, an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and is a certified public accountant. Alan lives on Long Island with his wife and is the proud father of two sons and a daughter.

Heidi holds a B.S. in accounting from the State University of New York, College at New Paltz. She started her public accounting career at a New York City firm whose specialties included not-for-profit organizations. She joined The Trust as a staff accountant in 1994. Heidi is a member of the AICPA and the New York State Society of CPAs. She also serves on the board of the FDNY Foundation which provides public education on fire safety and prevention as well as assistance to members of the FDNY in maintaining excellence in firefighter and emergency medical training.

Mercedes joined The Trust in 1978 and became vice president for administration in January 2002. Her areas of responsibility include personnel, human resources, benefits administration, the IT department, and off-site operations. Mercedes received her education in the New York City public school system. She holds a B.A. from Baruch College of CUNY. She immigrated to the United States from Cuba in 1961 and has resided in New York City ever since. She considers herself an honorary native New Yorker.

With The Trust for twenty-four years, Bob is the principal contact for donors, helping them to identify and achieve their charitable objectives. He is also involved in The Trust's new business initiatives. Prior to The Trust, he was the director of development for an international eye-care nonprofit, and before that, was a development officer for a performing arts center. Bob currently is a board member of the Memton Fund, the Clinton Hall Association, King Manor Museum, and the Kingsborough Community College Foundation, and is a trustee of the Board of Foreign Parishes, an Episcopal foundation that supports several churches in Europe. Bob was also a founding trustee of the Berkshire-Taconic Community Foundation.

Gay's responsibilities include assisting donors in identifying and achieving their charitable objectives, authorizing donor-advised grants, reviewing potential grantee organizations, and organizing events to inform and cultivate donors and advisors. She has a B.A. from Wellesley College and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. Prior to joining The Trust, she worked as a literary agent for six years and before that as corporate counsel at various financial services companies, including Merrill Lynch. She is currently serves on the Community Foundations National Standards Board, and is on the advisory board of the Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center.

Before joining The Trust in 1989, Ani was director of communications at a private foundation in New York. She has worked for and consulted to a number of nonprofits in the areas of health and housing, and has done several stints in New York City government. She spent three years in exile in Los Angeles working with Legal Services Corp. programs throughout California on legislative and administrative activities in health and social services. She holds an M.P.A. from New York University. Both of her sons were educated in the New York public schools, including CUNY.

Jane is responsible for a broad range of legal issues, including charitable contributions, donor-advised funds, board governance issues, unrelated business income tax, foreign grantmaking, commercial co-ventures, lobbying, and fiduciary duties of trusts and charitable corporations. In addition, she works with prospective donors and their professional advisors in connection with gifts and bequests. She also served as counsel to the September 11th Fund. Prior to joining The Trust in 1992, she was in private tax practice at a New York City law firm. Jane lectures on various subjects involving charities and planned giving. She received a B.A. from Michigan State University, a J.D. from the University of Michigan School of Law, and an LL.M in taxation from New York University Law School.

Pat manages the national and New York City environmental grant making programs and a local workforce development grants program. She has developed two funding collaboratives: New York City Workforce Development Funders group, which is a partner with the City on innovative employment projects, and the One Region Fund, a tri-state metropolitan funders group, which focuses on transportation issues in the region. She holds a masters in regional planning from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and is a graduate of Brown University. Pat is on the boards of Cause Effective in New York City, the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, and is a founding board member of the Montclair Economic Development Corporation in New Jersey.

Pat's grantmaking responsibilities cover the areas of community development, civic affairs, and technical assistance. Professional affiliations include a funder's collaborative called the Initiative for Neighborhood and City-wide Organizing and the board of Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, a job training affiliate of the Fifth Avenue Committee. Prior to coming to The Trust, Pat directed an economic development program in Red Hook/South Brooklyn and in Manhattan, and served on the staff of the Manhattan Borough President's Office under Borough President David Dinkins. She is a graduate of Pratt Institute Graduate School of Architecture and Planning and is a recipient of a Revson Fellowship at Columbia University.

Pat came to The Trust with considerable program development and management experience and has worked at the South Bronx Development Organization, Greenleigh Associates, Murray & White Associates, and the New York City Council Against Poverty. She also has graduate level teaching experience at several universities. Pat has a M.S.W. from Marywood College and an Advanced Management Certificate in business administration specializing in nonprofit management from the Urban Business Assistance Corporation at New York University. She is a board member of the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services and an advisor to several policy boards, including the New York City Administration for Children's Services and United Way of New York City FEMA Allocation Board.

Roderick manages grantmaking in the areas of Youth Development and Substance Abuse. He has an M.S.W. from the Hunter College School of Social Work, and he has program development and management experience in both the nonprofit and private sectors. Roderick is a Steering Committee member of the New York City Youth Funders Network, a board member of Advocates for Children, and represents The Trust on numerous citywide committees.

Kerry McCarthy joined the Trust in 2009 as Program Officer for Arts and Historic Preservation. Previously, she ran her own consulting company serving City nonprofit arts organizations. She has nearly 20 years experience in museum and performing arts administration with organizations as varied as the Queens Museum of Art and Jim Henson Productions. She has curated exhibitions for the New York Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center, among other venues. Kerry holds an MA in folk art studies from New York University and BA in art history from Sewanee: The University of the South.

Len's grantmaking portfolio includes health policy, biomedical research, aging, environmental health, and AIDS. Prior to joining The Trust in 1989, he spent more than ten years planning community programs for chronically ill elders and people with AIDS, working to develop a capitation-financed program for highly disabled elders and the country's first day treatment program for people with AIDS. Len helped the September 11th Fund design and fund environmental health and health insurance programs for victims of the attacks.

Before embarking on a career in public health, he taught biology. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in biology from Northeastern University and a masters in public health from Columbia University. He is a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, a former member of the New York City HIV Planning Council, a board member of God's Love We Deliver and Funders Concerned About AIDS, and has been a volunteer in AIDS organizations since 1985.

Irfan Hasan, Program Officer, Health and People with Special Needs

Irfan covers The Trust's grantmaking in the areas of health services, children and youth with disabilities, mental health and mental retardation, and people with visual disabilities. Following September 11, 2001, Irfan was instrumental in emergency mental health response grantmaking through The Trust's September 11th Fund. Before joining The Trust in 2000, Irfan spent eight years at Greater Boston Rehabilitation Services.

He is chairman of the Board of Directors of the Disability Funders Network and is a mayorial appointee to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Community Service Board. He is a former co-chair of the United States Student Selection Committee for the United World Colleges and has served on the planning committee for the Council on Foundations Annual Conference. Irfan earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from Northeastern University and a masters in public administration from the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.

Shawn Morehead, Program Officer, Education and Human Justice Shawn manages the Education and Human Justice grantmaking programs. Prior to coming to the Trust, Shawn collaborated on recommendations to the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education to improve services for students with disabilities and prior to that was the Litigation Director at Advocates for Children of New York, where she managed a docket of systemic reform cases concerning education and civil rights on behalf of New York City public school students. Shawn received her J.D. from Stanford Law School and clerked for the Honorable Michael B. Mukasey, then Chief Judge of the Southern District of New York.  Before law school, she taught middle school special education in Shreveport, Louisiana.